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Penny-Arcade: "Marketers of the Avenger Controller are thieves and liars".

W

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
D

DJ88

Member
Just in case someone missed this or didn't make the connection, this email that Kotaku got from 'Brandon' was actually Paul pretending to be Brandon.

Kotaku said:
It's been a heck of a day for Paul Christoforo, whose flippant email to a customer asking about his Avenger controller order has made Christoforo a walking memetic punchline. But maybe we should cut Christoforo a break for his overly aggressive emails: he could just be feeling the effects of roid rage.

We asked for official comment from "Brandon Leidel, Director of Marketing" using an email address with which we've previously corresponded in the past. (Brandon@AvengerController.com).

Hey guys,

Is Ocean Marketing a third-party agency for you guys or in-house?

Thanks!

Joel Johnson
Editorial Director, Kotaku

We got a quick reply from Brandon.

Hey Joel,

3rd party agency we were using to help us through the Holidays . I think things are a bit blown out of proportion on this today.

Brandon Leidel,
Director of Marketing
brandon@avengercontroller.com

Strangely, though, the email came from "cstrophic@hotmail.com". A cursory Googling of that email reveals that it's one of the addresses used by Mr. Christoforo. It's even listed as a contact address in one of his "@oceanstratagy" tweets from last year.
Click to expand...


The real Brandon had this to say:


Brandon said:
Hi Joel,

I have been following this story since this morning when someone notified me about what was going on. I did not write that response to you.

Yes, in the past I received email at brandon@avengercontroller.com but even then we were an outsourced marketing agency for N-Control. I no longer receive email at that address because we fired N-Control as a client about 8 months ago due to constant shipping delays (which we had to deal with) and their association with Paul Cristoforo who is a street thug masquerading as a self proclaimed "Marketing Professional". This guy is a complete fool and somehow strong armed his way into working with the company so we walked away. I am not surprised in the slightest bit by what's going on right now. In fact, we told the owners of the company on many occasions that this would eventually happen.

I wasn't going to chime in but since he is replying as me, I can't resist. I personally can't stand him.

Brandon

_____________________________________________________________________

Brandon Leidel - CEO, Director of Operations
The HAND Media, Inc.
Click to expand...


It's obvious this guy wasn't just having an off day when he wrote those emails to Dave. Along with the other documented cases of him talking down to customers like they were worthless, plagiarizing more than half his site, and fabricating positive reviews of the product he represents while writing negative reviews of competing products its pretty clear this guy is just a plain old douchebag. This guy deserves everything he's gotten and that apology just doesn't do anything for me. He shouldn't be allowed to work at any job even remotely similar to the one he has, or had, now.
 
A

adamma666

Member
elrechazao said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-Yqq_LCX_M

the reddit thread keeps on giving. Video of our pal complaining about the noise at his apartment. Apparently threatened a bunch of people over it, claimed he was on a chamber of commerce (when he's not), etc.
Click to expand...

"if I don't hear back from someone soon, I have 30 thousand twitter followers , 1300 Facebook friends , groups, real estate and business professionals , over 10 thousand LinkedIn professionals from lawyers to Brokers and Realtors to city and government officials ,Realtor.com , Ripoffreport.com, Apartments.com , BBB , MLS in Miami , Boston and California ,"
 
F

Fine Ham Abounds

Member
I honestly do feel bad for the guy and especially for his family, there's no way he could have possibly imagined that his entire professional world would collapse over 2 game controllers.

The problem is, anyone who really had any qualifications doing internet marketing would be aware of the potential damage the internet can have on brands caused by horrific customer service.

I have no such qualifications, and I certainly know better than to think "put on your big boy hat and man up, if you cancel you forfeit your money" is an appropriate customer service response, and I know what the consequences of such a response could be from simply paying attention to the news for the last 15 years.

Judging by his command of the english language, his plagiarism, his lack of professionalism, his lies about his company and qualifications, I can say without a doubt that this was what this man has had coming to him for years. How he managed to get by doing what he's been doing with this level of incompetence and subterfuge is what's really astonishing.
 
GlamFM

GlamFM

Banned
Fine Ham Abounds said:
I honestly do feel bad for the guy and especially for his family, there's no way he could have possibly imagined that his entire professional world would collapse over 2 game controllers.

The problem is, anyone who really had any qualifications doing internet marketing would be aware of the potential damage the internet can have on brands caused by horrific customer service.

I have no such qualifications, and I certainly know better than to think "put on your big boy hat and man up, if you cancel you forfeit your money" is an appropriate customer service response, and I know what the consequences of such a response could be from simply paying attention to the news for the last 15 years.

Judging by his command of the english language, his plagiarism, his lack of professionalism, his lies about his company and qualifications, I can say without a doubt that this was what this man has had coming to him for years. How he managed to get by doing what he's been doing with this level of incompetence and subterfuge is what's really astonishing.
Click to expand...

Maybe because he´s a street thug with a 9mm gun.
 
Duane Cunningham

Duane Cunningham

Member
Holy shit, I just read the latest part where he impersonated his old client this afternoon. That's nuts. So he did this right around the same time he was writing his apology letters to Gabe and Dave with a V. What the hell.
 
S

Sportbilly

Member
Fine Ham Abounds said:
Judging by his command of the english language, his plagiarism, his lack of professionalism, his lies about his company and qualifications, I can say without a doubt that this was what this man has had coming to him for years. How he managed to get by doing what he's been doing with this level of incompetence and subterfuge is what's really astonishing.
Click to expand...

He does seem to have some serious Mob connections. There's going to be a lot of fools sleeping with the fishes once he's cleaned this up.
 
I

itsgreen

Member
elrechazao said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-Yqq_LCX_M

the reddit thread keeps on giving. Video of our pal complaining about the noise at his apartment. Apparently threatened a bunch of people over it, claimed he was on a chamber of commerce (when he's not), etc.
Click to expand...

I love how the description says:

Douchebag said:
Hilda and Jennifer,

I am putting my complaints and this Video Viral if I don't hear back from someone soon, I have 30 thousand twitter followers , 1300 Facebook friends , groups, real estate and business professionals , over 10 thousand LinkedIn professionals from lawyers to Brokers and Realtors to city and government officials ,Realtor.com , Ripoffreport.com, Apartments.com , BBB , MLS in Miami , Boston and California , I'm filing a complaint with the California DRE , I sit on the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce and The Carlsbad CA Rotary Club. That's a lot of Bad press to a lot of influential and important people like I said this will get into the proper hands of someone to handle the situation one way or another.They didn't show my unit till 3 days prior to move in , i noticed it was on a 6 lane freeway and was worried about the noise I was assured it wasn't that bad and the windows were double pained, my wife is 8 1/2 months pregnant and I asked them to sound proof 2 windows and they said move out or pay yourself after I have furnished the pace with 4 k worth of stuff and built a baby nursery. Im a Realtor and this place is a joke offering new washers and dryers and wont put in some sound proof glass
Click to expand...

30k twitter followers, 1300 facebook friends etc etc yet the video has 301 views (of which the overwhelming majority has come in the last day)
 
W

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
Kurtofan said:
Paul has been fired http://www.natesnetwork.com/Poor-customer-service
Click to expand...
.

Edit - please read this email i just received: Paul has been fired, but lets support the orignal inventor! :)

I want to start off by saying that I have absolutely no affiliation with the Avenger Controllers, Oceanside Marketing, or anybody else involved with today's fiasco. I'm just a longtime PA reader and member of the forums who had nothing better to do today.

I managed to get hold of the personal phone number for David Kotkin, the guy who invented the Avenger controller. I want to point out that he is a teacher and originally came up with it to help a boy in his class. (source: http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/04/15/inventive-teacher-gives-disabled-student-control/)

When I called, David was genuinely apologetic and had already let Paul Chrisoforos/Oceanside Marketing go. He said he was in the process of contacting Penny Arcade, trying to get the contact info for Dave, and release a statement. He seemed so overwhelmed and out of his depth and distressed (who wouldn't be if they woke up one day and had this dumped on them) that I wanted to put in a word on his behalf as well.

He did give me an email to reach him directly at removed for privacy as well as a phone number: removed for privacy

I realize this probably does you, personally, no good this late. But with the new situation, I was hoping you could put up an update.

Again, beyond talking to Kotkin for a few minutes on the phone, I have no affiliation. I just want to do the right thing.

Thanks,
Name removed
Click to expand...
 
C

Codeblue

Member
itsgreen said:
I love how the description says:



30k twitter followers, 1300 facebook friends etc etc yet the video has 301 views (of which the overwhelming majority has come in the last day)
Click to expand...

This is just how he handles things. If there was ever any evidence that this is just who he is and not him on a bad day, this video is it.
 
Pyccko

Pyccko

Member
It's a shame that the retardo antics of some roid monkey meathead could (and probably have) potentially hurt
the sales and reputation of what seems to have been a genuine, helpful product, no matter if it was being marketed toward XTR3ME PLAYAZ.
 
J

Joe Shlabotnik

Banned
Wario64 said:
Edit - please read this email i just received: Paul has been fired, but lets support the orignal inventor! :)

I want to start off by saying that I have absolutely no affiliation with the Avenger Controllers, Oceanside Marketing, or anybody else involved with today's fiasco. I'm just a longtime PA reader and member of the forums who had nothing better to do today.

I managed to get hold of the personal phone number for David Kotkin, the guy who invented the Avenger controller. I want to point out that he is a teacher and originally came up with it to help a boy in his class. (source: http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/04/15...udent-control/)

When I called, David was genuinely apologetic and had already let Paul Chrisoforos/Oceanside Marketing go. He said he was in the process of contacting Penny Arcade, trying to get the contact info for Dave, and release a statement. He seemed so overwhelmed and out of his depth and distressed (who wouldn't be if they woke up one day and had this dumped on them) that I wanted to put in a word on his behalf as well.

He did give me an email to reach him directly at removed for privacy as well as a phone number: removed for privacy

I realize this probably does you, personally, no good this late. But with the new situation, I was hoping you could put up an update.

Again, beyond talking to Kotkin for a few minutes on the phone, I have no affiliation. I just want to do the right thing.

Thanks,
Name removed
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

So can Paul sue for compensation if Avenger controller sales go through the roof after this? Maybe he's actually a marketing genius working on an entirely different level than the rest of us!
 
Flying Toaster

Flying Toaster

Member
Joe Shlabotnik said:
So can Paul sue for compensation if Avenger controller sales go through the roof after this? Maybe he's actually a marketing genius working on an entirely different level than the rest of us!
Click to expand...

No but Paul knows all the major players from the movie "The Departed" and knowing him shit is going to get real.
 
G

Gianni Merryman

Member
DJ88 said:
Just in case someone missed this or didn't make the connection, this email that Kotaku got from 'Brandon' was actually Paul pretending to be Brandon.




The real Brandon had this to say:





It's obvious this guy wasn't just having an off day when he wrote those emails to Dave. Along with the other documented cases of him talking down to customers like they were worthless, plagiarizing more than half his site, and fabricating positive reviews of the product he represents while writing negative reviews of competing products its pretty clear this guy is just a plain old douchebag. This guy deserves everything he's gotten and that apology just doesn't do anything for me. He shouldn't be allowed to work at any job even remotely similar to the one he has, or had, now.
Click to expand...

Something's wrong here...the supposedly fake email is written in a decent English, with a decent punctuation, therefore it cannot be him, from all we know it's something out of his reach...
 
I

I'm an expert

Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
Man..this whole thing..what the fuck..is this real life? (cue all the gifs)
 
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